Do You Have These Six Relationship Rewards with Your SEO Software Provider?

Over the past six years, we have developed many long-lasting relationships with brands and agencies who are using the gShift platform for their SEO, content and social reporting needs. We have worked closely with them to understand their current strategies and ultimate goals. Consistently, there are a few key aspects of the relationship building process which lead to success.

Whether you are in a current contract, or looking for a new provider, below are some of those relationship rewards your partnership should provide. While these are written from the viewpoint of an SEO software provider specifically, the same principles can be applied to any piece of technology you invest in.

Do you have a dedicated Client Success Manager who understands your business needs and goals?

When it comes to software, one aspect of a good partnership involves having a solution provider who will work directly with you in a way which best suits your needs. You may need heavier guidance around the implementation and set up, but can take over with minimal services going forward. Alternatively, you may require ongoing client success support and services to complement your team and their skill set. You want to make sure your SEO software provider understands where you fall on the services spectrum in order to develop a build, train and transfer schedule to support it. Having your team and your client’s focused on their goal will help you achieve the desired results. On-going communication can reduce risk and manage expectations along the way.

Does your provider seek feedback on features and how you are using the platform?

Any software vendor hoping to excel at user experience needs to ask for feedback from their regular users. This gives you a chance to express what you like about the system, but also what you think may be missing. While not everything will make it onto a product roadmap, obtaining user feedback can help to highlight missing features the software developers may not have thought of.

Has the technology evolved to be more than just on-site SEO?

SEO is still arguably at the root of all digital marketing and helps to lay the framework for your content and social strategies. However, in today’s market, an SEO platform needs to provide insight into so much more than just on-site optimization and website search performance. Has your SEO software provider evolved their platform to address developing market trends? Further, do they understand which aspects of digital marketing are most important to their audience and are they seeking feedback to build their applications accordingly?

Does your software play well with others in your marketing stack?

Today’s marketing technology stack is growing rapidly. Many digital marketing teams use a variety of tools to add functionality and reporting into their strategies. It is important to find solution providers who can work well with others in your stack. This may not be in the form of a full integration, but even in the willingness to align data and give guidance around how one piece of technology can support or augment another.

Do your software partner help you identify under-used features so you can maximize your investment?

Make sure you select an SEO software you will use to its fullest. There is no point paying for features which are never touched. When the relationship you have built is a true partnership, your vendor will be involved in looking at what you are not taking advantage of and will make suggestions to maximize the value you are receiving from the platform. Likewise, they will ensure you are spending your time in the areas which matter most.

Does your provider understand your business and how the platform fits into your strategy?

Further to the last point, your software provider should ideally be giving you guidance to ensure you are pulling the right data and insights from their system. This will help you gauge the ROI of your digital marketing efforts, as they pertain data provided by the platform. However, it will also help you gauge the ROI of the system itself and how valuable the data is to your daily decision-making.

Selecting a software provider to fill any one part of your marketing stack needs can be difficult. There are so many choices facing digital marketing professionals today. Understanding the key elements of the relationship outlined above will help you identify a solution provider who will work with you and support you throughout the process. Beginning with this methodology, you will be able to start to build a solid marketing tech stack you can rely on.